freenovelworld Chapter 434 The Fallen Lich [Vladimir], Soul Stitching?
Chapter 434 The Fallen Lich [Vladimir], Soul Stitching?
Chapter 434 The Fallen Lich [Vladimir], Soul Stitching?
As soon as they stepped into the burial site, everyone was on edge, ready to face a fierce battle at any moment.
However, something puzzling happened: there was no sign of any enemies in the burial site.
The air was filled with the dusty smell of an abandoned building that had been deserted for a long time; otherwise, it was empty and devoid of anything.
The ground was covered with a thick layer of dust, and some damaged buildings lay askew in the dust, almost unrecognizable.
"The environment here is completely different from when we last came."
Ah Kai covered his mouth and nose and spoke softly, his voice sounding somewhat muffled through his palm.
"It seems that some unknown changes have also occurred to these undead monsters."
Zhang Wu squatted down to examine the marks on the ground.
The dust on the ground was thick, with a very peculiar grayish-white hue. It didn't look like ordinary dust, but rather like some kind of carefully ground powder.
He picked up a small pinch and examined it closely in his palm, but after a long time he still couldn't figure out what it was. So he stood up, clapped his hands, and said, "There probably isn't anything special on this floor. Let's go up and take a look."
"These powders—"
Ark's voice suddenly appeared.
He said with a grave expression, "This powder is made from the bones of dead creatures!"
These words caused everyone's expression to change.
The original purpose of the burial site is unknown, but its area is much larger than that of a typical human cemetery.
The widest first floor could accommodate almost a hundred fully armed soldiers.
Such a vast area was completely covered with a thick layer of bone meal; the number of victims must have been in the hundreds or even thousands.
"It's not just you, there are also the natives of our withered swamp."
"Guna La, the leader of the Mud Spring Demoness, said coldly."
The swamp slime beside her snorted and shook its enormous head, as if in mourning.
"Regardless of whose bones they are, there are definitely extremely ferocious undead monsters here."
Since there's nothing noteworthy on this floor, let's go up to the next floor now.
Zhang Wu suggested.
"Wait a minute, Zhang Wu, let my summoned creature go first."
As Fangzhou spoke, he used his Soul Eagle Eye skill to scan the area. After finding no potential enemies, he commanded several giant shield skeleton warriors and zombies to carefully step onto the spiraling stone steps in the center of the tomb.
Ark's caution proved to be of little use.
Nothing happened until they stepped onto the floor of the second level of the tomb.
Neither insidious traps nor attacks from the undead occurred.
Such lax defenses don't seem like the kind of place where undead monsters roam.
Fangzhou felt somewhat uneasy.
He looked around and found that the second level of the tomb was just as empty as the first.
Clearly, this place was once a temple of magic.
Traces of the magic circle remained on the ground, but the precious metals and gemstone powder on it had been removed when the tomb was abandoned, and the erosion of time had made the remaining grooves dilapidated and mottled.
The group continued forward under the protection of their own undead summons.
The third level of the burial site, like the first two, was shrouded in darkness.
But a change occurred.
When the skeleton army of the Ark swarmed in, the connection between the Ark and their souls abruptly ended, as if a pair of scissors made of souls had directly severed the originally unbreakable link between them.
It is obvious that this was done by the enemy.
Fangzhou made a few tactical hand gestures, and then the mages and archers in the expedition silently cast spells.
With a powerful swing of its right hand, Fangzhou unleashed a barrage of spells and arrows that shot directly from the second-floor stairwell into the third floor.
After a burst of intense bombardment, under the close protection of the support staff, several combat trainees took the lead and leaped out of the stairwell, their battle aura tearing through the darkness.
The third level of the entire tomb is a spacious hall.
Countless broken marble carvings stand all around, their exquisite patterns faintly revealing the luxurious past of this tomb.
What chilled Fang Zhou to the bone was that at the very center of the hall, a mountain of white bones stood, upon which rested a throne made of countless skulls of all sorts of creatures!
Seated on the throne is a skeleton wearing an ancient-style dark gold crown.
The bony hand supported its jawbone, and a chilling, eerie green light flickered in its eye sockets.
The skeleton was dressed in a long, jet-black robe, adorned with countless tiny golden stars.
Above his head, a huge, blood-red orb of light was floating and slowly rotating.
Countless distorted phantoms of humans and other creatures were struggling and writhing within the sphere of light, emitting terrifying howls.
The warrior trainees who had rushed up earlier had already surrounded the skull throne and the black-robed skeleton on it.
However, Fangzhou had a misconception that their encirclement seemed to have no effect whatsoever.
If the skeleton wanted to, it could tear everyone present apart at any time.
Liu Diewu glanced at the blood sphere a few more times and immediately felt dizzy and nauseous.
She quickly averted her gaze and said to the ark standing before her, "Is that black-robed skeleton on the skull throne the undead monster that unleashed the plague curse on the Flower Fairy Queen's tribe?"
"----Yes----"
Fangzhou's answer was somewhat strange, carrying a sense of disbelief but also a hint of surprise.
"What are you waiting for? Charge in and take him down!"
"That is—a robe that only the strong of the Naraku civilization can wear."
This skeleton isn't an ordinary necromancer, but a lich!
"You are very knowledgeable, young necromancer."
As soon as Fang Zhou finished speaking, the somber, hoarse voice of the black-robed skeleton rang out.
"I am Vladimir the Wings of Mourning, the master of this tomb, the one who lingers on in Naraku."
Welcome to my private domain.
Hopefully, those free-roaming little creatures outside haven't caused you any discomfort.
It must be said that this self-proclaimed Vladimir lich is incredibly ruthless.
But his next sentence, with his neurotic behavior, shattered the fear of the unknown creature that had risen in everyone's hearts.
"Get out of my body, you thief!"
"I am Daniel David, the Twisted Priest of the Night Clan!"
"You are shameless thieves, I, Catria, am the true master."
"9
In an instant, dozens or even hundreds of distorted screams at the soul level resounded throughout the third level of the tomb.
The source of these unbearable screams of the souls was none other than the lich named Vladimir.
Just then, Ark also activated its Soul Eagle Vision.
Everything, both real and illusory, was entirely under his control.
In the undead creature encyclopedia compiled by Master Sandru and Instructor Su Xinyan, the lich is a rare gold-tier undead creature with spellcasting abilities.
If a Gold-tier creature truly appeared in such a tomb, the Haicheng Military Academy, which had been monitoring the Natural Forest space fragments using the energy detection matrix, would not have failed to detect it.
And that was indeed the case.
Under the Ark's Soul Eagle Eye, the true nature of this person, who looked remarkably like a lich, was directly exposed.
Just like the previous creature that resembled a ghost, this lich's soul essence is also at the lower level of Black Iron.
However, his soul appeared incredibly twisted and bloated compared to that of ordinary beings.
It was as if dozens of lower-level Black Iron souls were twisted together to form a stitched-together creation.
While the Ark silently observed and collected data, Vladimir, sitting on his throne, became increasingly confused.
Even from Fangzhou's perspective, strange and terrifying phantom souls emerged from every corner of his body.
This terrifying sight was not only noticed by the Ark, but also by other members of the expedition team who had more acute senses.
Their faces turned extremely pale.
Akai leaned closer and said to Ark, "That Daniel David is the name of the monster leader who led us when we came to raid the Tomb of the Dead."
He was a drow elf at the time.
And that Cateria is the name of our patriarch.
He was a valiant forest centaur warrior.
Meanwhile, Guna, the leader of the Mud Spring Banshees, said with a grim expression, "Amidst the howls of these terrifying spirits, I also heard the name of my sister, the leader of the Moten tribe."
A bizarre lich, possibly a descendant of the Naraku civilization.
Members of the Nature Alliance Expeditionary Force.
The leader of the swamp natives.
There was even the drow leader who originally occupied this area of the undead cemetery.
The souls of the four factions and different characters were somehow stuffed into a single body.
This surprised Fang Zhou.
As a native human necromancer trained by the Blue Star Human Alliance, Fang Zhou doesn't currently have a deep understanding of the soul-based skill tree.
Even the most powerful necromancer, Sandru, only had a superficial understanding of the soul system.
In Fangzhou's previous idea, he wanted to deduce and develop a soul-based skill tree for necromancers, and the key point was probably to focus on undead creatures like ghosts.
Ghosts, being bronze-level undead creatures, are creations of the soul, so their innate skills must also be related to the soul.
Once Ark's clone breaks through to the Bronze rank, it will be able to absorb and analyze the zombie's racial talent, [Corrosive Poison Avatar].
In that way, they could absorb and analyze the racial talents of the ghosts once again.
That will be the best time to develop and refine the necromancer's soul-based skill tree.
Therefore, with the current level of understanding of the souls, Ark cannot comprehend how the souls of dozens or even hundreds of different races of life forms are fused into one body.
However, this did not prevent them from making any decisions, as Ark had a preliminary assessment of the situation here.
Based on current observations, the main consciousness of this monster is the remnant soul of the Naraku civilization named Vladimir.
Perhaps it was a drow chieftain named Daniel David who touched the seal of this undead tomb.
Perhaps the previous campaign by the Natural Alliance against the Tomb of the Dead, which led to conflict with the swamp natives, caused the resurrection of the Tomb of the Dead's former owner.
Ultimately, Vladimir stitched all the powerful souls he encountered into his own soul through an unknown, evil means.
This is what created the bloated and bizarre creation before us.
Fangzhou let out a soft breath, his longing for the ruins of the Naraku civilization growing even stronger.
He didn't seem to care about such evil methods.
After all, according to historical records, the Naraku civilization, as a peculiar civilization that wielded the power of the dead, was a well-known lawful evil faction in the mythological world before it was defeated and destroyed by the demons of the abyss.
In terms of sheer evil, they are not much less evil than the demons of the abyss.
After gaining a general understanding of the true nature of this fake lich, Ark's previous hesitation vanished.
No matter what kind of person he is, as long as his level does not exceed the lower rank of Black Iron, Ark has absolute confidence.
Judging from Vladimir's distorted state, he probably has no ability to communicate.
Fangzhou made a tactical hand gesture, and the expedition team members immediately got into position.
A beam of bluish-white light descended from the sky, piercing through the inky darkness!
It was Hong Yang's radiant magic!
Then, countless cracking sounds of bones grinding together emerged from the bluish-white light.
This is the Ark's undead army beginning its operation.
The fake lich sensed the approaching danger, and the dark gold crown on its head emitted an eerie gray light.
He seemed to have activated some costly ability to suppress the resistance of other rebellious souls.
After regaining consciousness, Vladimir looked at everything before him, and the eerie green flames in his eye sockets suddenly blazed brightly. His expression of surprise was almost impossible to conceal, even from his skeletal face.
"What?! A low-ranking Dark Iron Necromancer can summon so many skeletons and zombies?!"
Clearly, the ability of this necromancer descendant, Fangzhou, to summon undead creatures, enhanced by various factors, has astonished even this remnant soul from the old era.
The bowstring snapped open in the next instant, making a crackling sound.
The pseudo-lich Vladimir, who had become the target of dozens of skeleton archers, quickly regained his composure after his initial shock.
He flicked his skeletal fingers repeatedly, instantly creating several colorful magical barriers in front of him.
"shooting!"
Fangzhou gave the command in a deep voice.
A pale white wind carrying the scent of bones swept through the dark hall.
A dazzling light rang out, accompanied by the sound of the magic barrier being shattered.
To the surprise of the fake lich Vladimir, the magical barriers he had erected were completely destroyed in the first wave of arrows.
Several arrows, still carrying considerable force, grazed past his black robe, sending sparks flying.
"In the Naraka realm, these arrows actually possess both magic-piercing and armor-piercing properties!"
The fake lich looked at the cut on his black robe and couldn't help but cry out.
His robe appeared to be made of soft, velvety material, but it was actually a very powerful magical artifact, with defensive capabilities not much weaker than a knight's full-body heavy armor.
In his time, many specially crafted alchemical anti-magic arrows could pierce his magical shield, but they were completely ineffective against this robe.
However, this volley of arrows gave him a taste of danger.
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